Chassis looks similar to past iterations of Nexus handsets

Leaked photos of what has apparently been confirmed as the LG Nexus have cropped up in an online forum. The photos were confirmed by a source at Android and Me and show a device that looks very similar to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the last Google device to hit the Android market.

From the looks of it, the phone will have a black bezel with a glittery backside and what appears to be aluminum lining. It’s also interesting to note that the spy shots look similar to the mock-ups provided by LG, though it’s currently unclear if this is the same design that the non-Google branded LG Optimus G will sport. There have been other shots making the rounds that depict a more rectangular phone from LG with an all-black backside.

Also, it appears that the photos show the handset running Android 4.1 JellyBean, which conflicts with rumors that it will be announced as Google's flagship Android 4.2 phone at the as-of-yet-unannounced November event.

As we reported, the LG Nexus will feature the same specifications as the LG Optimus G, including a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and a 1280×768 4.7” IPS display.

Florence Ion
Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.

Eh, taste is subjective. I think that sparkly effect is pretty hideous, but as EBone says, the real benefit of a Nexus phone is that it's a Google Reference Device, and you'll get prompt updates -- which is huge enough of a benefit to make even me, an iOS user, overlook teh sparkelz.

Too bad the screen isn't OLED, the software buttons blend in very well with the black glass on the galaxy nexus. Here the buttons are kinda grey-ish. That plus an ugly, purely cosmetic glass backplate makes this very unattractive to me.

That's.... really disappointing and frankly pretty ugly. Nothing about this is particularly impressive at all, for that matter. Am I missing something here?

Pure Jelly Bean goodness and future upgrades in timely manner?

It'd take a lot more than that for me to buy into a phone that badly designed. I know it's all subjective, but it really just looks cheap and kind of tacky to me. I'd probably choose the Galaxy Nexus over this thing, based on the information given here. Wasn't hating on Android, just the design of the phone. Getting updates when you actually SHOULD get updates is not a feature, it's something every person should expect.

Too bad the screen isn't OLED, the software buttons blend in very well with the black glass on the galaxy nexus. Here the buttons are kinda grey-ish. That plus an ugly, purely cosmetic glass backplate makes this very unattractive to me.

It might just be the angle, but to be honest I'd like an LCD Nexus. A 720p OLED display currently means PenTile (unless it's the enormous 5.5 inch display in the Galaxy Note II), which messes with colour accuracy. I can also see some burn-in at the top of my Galaxy S after two years of use. Check out DisplayMate's comparison of the iPhone 5's LCD and the Galaxy S III's OLED - the iPhone 5 wins in practically every display benchmark.

As for the backplate, I really hope it's just a curveball to throw off leakers a little. Nexus phones typically have conservative designs as they're reference hardware.

That's.... really disappointing and frankly pretty ugly. Nothing about this is particularly impressive at all, for that matter. Am I missing something here?

Agreed. Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5". I'm hoping these rumors are wrong and it's more impressive.

Jeez. Why can't LG get it right? Too much second-guessing on the design, no design confidence; we get an ugly phone. The entry-level optimus V in black, even with the cheezy cheap metal band at the top, is, I think a very nice example of ergonomic and attractive design. The iPhone got it right with its minimal (and innoffensive!) back treatments, leaving it the user to spice up/personilze via third party accessories... this is just ugly disco and so pigeonholed.. sad they're taking a move from the Samsung Playbook...very disappointing.

Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5".

...and after that? How far ahead does this trend continue? At some point the intersection of usability and portability has to be reached, and then you'll see the just the outside treatments and interior procs being iterated.

That's.... really disappointing and frankly pretty ugly. Nothing about this is particularly impressive at all, for that matter. Am I missing something here?

Agreed. Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5". I'm hoping these rumors are wrong and it's more impressive.

Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5".

...and after that? How far ahead does this trend continue? At some point the intersection of usability and portability has to be reached, and then you'll see the just the outside treatments and interior procs being iterated.

That plus an ugly, purely cosmetic glass backplate makes this very unattractive to me.

I'm a bit disoriented by the focus on the appearance. Plenty of time spent in the Ars forums has lead me to believe that it was a non-issue for a (very) large segment of the non-Apple crowd.

edit: Slap a case on that thing and the stars go out.

I guess I should've left "ugly" out of that sentence, because then it conveys my meaning more clearly. I use cases too, so It's not so much the appearance as it is the idea behind it. The idea of having a heavy, fragile glass back that's there only to make the phone look shiny (see iPhone 4) is not exactly a plus for me. If they used plastic it would've been better in pretty much every single way.

r3loaded wrote:

passie wrote:

Too bad the screen isn't OLED, the software buttons blend in very well with the black glass on the galaxy nexus. Here the buttons are kinda grey-ish. That plus an ugly, purely cosmetic glass backplate makes this very unattractive to me.

It might just be the angle, but to be honest I'd like an LCD Nexus. A 720p OLED display currently means PenTile (unless it's the enormous 5.5 inch display in the Galaxy Note II), which messes with colour accuracy. I can also see some burn-in at the top of my Galaxy S after two years of use. Check out DisplayMate's comparison of the iPhone 5's LCD and the Galaxy S III's OLED - the iPhone 5 wins in practically every display benchmark.

As for the backplate, I really hope it's just a curveball to throw off leakers a little. Nexus phones typically have conservative designs as they're reference hardware.

I don't think the pentile is what kills the colour accuracy, but the crappy calibration of the displays. Something Samsung doesn't seem to give two shits about to be sure (as DisplayMate pointed out, Apple does a very good job on this). But colour accuracy isn't a priority for me on my phone. What I do miss from LCDs is the better performance in direct sunlight and their better power efficiency, the screen on my Note gobbles up battery like crazy. But the black levels are something I'm not willing to give up easily. And for reading at nighttime, you can just put a dark software filter on the display so your eyes won't catch fire. Screen burn out hasn't happened yet to my Note, but that is indeed a big downside if you keep your phones for a long time. Seen it on friends' phones who use it on full brightness all the time and it kinda sucks.

That plus an ugly, purely cosmetic glass backplate makes this very unattractive to me.

I'm a bit disoriented by the focus on the appearance. Plenty of time spent in the Ars forums has lead me to believe that it was a non-issue for a (very) large segment of the non-Apple crowd.

edit: Slap a case on that thing and the stars go out.

I guess I should've left "ugly" out of that sentence, because then it conveys my meaning more clearly. I use cases too, so It's not so much the appearance as it is the idea behind it. The idea of having a heavy, fragile glass back that's there only to make the phone look shiny (see iPhone 4) is not exactly a plus for me. If they used plastic it would've been better in pretty much every single way.

I seriously doubt the back is made of glass. It's probably plastic.

Even so, it'll rarely be seen. I just don't see phones with this price tag without at least a token silicone cover if not an Otterbox/Ballistic/Trident case.

Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5".

...and after that? How far ahead does this trend continue? At some point the intersection of usability and portability has to be reached, and then you'll see the just the outside treatments and interior procs being iterated.

Sure, but we're still far from that point. Just look how popular the 5.3" Galaxy Note is, and it only ran Gingerbread. This is a flagship device – there will always be smaller phones for people who want small screens.

That's.... really disappointing and frankly pretty ugly. Nothing about this is particularly impressive at all, for that matter. Am I missing something here?

Agreed. Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5". I'm hoping these rumors are wrong and it's more impressive.

As the owner of a new 4.7" phone, I can attest to the fact that the width is reaching a critical point before it just doesn't work as a phone.

That plus an ugly, purely cosmetic glass backplate makes this very unattractive to me.

I'm a bit disoriented by the focus on the appearance. Plenty of time spent in the Ars forums has lead me to believe that it was a non-issue for a (very) large segment of the non-Apple crowd.

edit: Slap a case on that thing and the stars go out.

I guess I should've left "ugly" out of that sentence, because then it conveys my meaning more clearly. I use cases too, so It's not so much the appearance as it is the idea behind it. The idea of having a heavy, fragile glass back that's there only to make the phone look shiny (see iPhone 4) is not exactly a plus for me. If they used plastic it would've been better in pretty much every single way.

I seriously doubt the back is made of glass. It's probably plastic.

Even so, it'll rarely be seen. I just don't see phones with this price tag without at least a token silicone cover if not an Otterbox/Ballistic/Trident case.

That's.... really disappointing and frankly pretty ugly. Nothing about this is particularly impressive at all, for that matter. Am I missing something here?

Agreed. Nexus One had a 3.7" screen. Nexus S had a 4" screen. Galaxy Nexus has a 4.7" screen. LG Nexus has a…4.7" screen? Come on guys, go for 5". I'm hoping these rumors are wrong and it's more impressive.

As the owner of a new 4.7" phone, I can attest to the fact that the width is reaching a critical point before it just doesn't work as a phone.

My 5.3" phone very nearly crosses that line. It's not really comfortable to use as a phone. But my ratio of phone usage and smartphone usage is very small, and there's always headsets if you don't like holding a brick to your head.

I don't understand why criticizing the look of a phone is a bad thing. Yes, functionality is important. But this is 2012. I should be able to have my cake and eat it too.

It's not. It is surprising, however. People are more passionate about the look than I'd expected.

I guess I just don't see why it's so surprising. With phones like the iPhone 5, Lumia, etc. out there now, people are realizing that you don't have to trade in form for function. Granted there's tradeoffs with whichever OS you choose to go with, but there's no reason that a "flagship" device shouldn't be nice to look at as well as nice to use. It doesn't even have to be a beautiful, amazing design... but at least make it decent to look at. This thing is just... it looks like 1999 threw up on 2008.

But I don't care at all really, since if I get one I'll be casing it. I'm a lot more interested in the specs. i'm a little sketchy on the IPS LCD sceen (tend to prefer OLED) but I'm willing to be convinced.

Not a fan of the on-screen buttons, I wish they'd move them back down like HTC and Samsung has with their ICS and later devices. You're biting off screen real estate that you can give back to the UI by just putting capactive controls in the dead space below.

RE 4.1 v 4.2: leaked photos showing 4.1 running may not mean that it will go to market with 4.1 rather than 4.2. When you are testing prototype hardware, you always start with a stable version of the OS and all software (apps), to establish a baseline with as few variables as possible. THEN you load the new stuff. How old are the leaked photos?

It's funny that Google is pushing on developers to design better looking apps while at the same time decorating their own reference hardware with sparkles. Someone at Google needs to yell at the LG designers.

why would pogo pins matter? the galaxy nexus has them and there were almost are 0 accessories that used them.

FTFY. I'm still waiting; a few lucky people managed to snag the POGO desktop dock (for $90!), but it hasn't been seen in months and they were few and far between when they were available. And, for that matter, the Nexus 7 has POGO pins, and that dock was due out in August. We're waiting, manufacturers...

Quite frankly, that phone is hideous. If I were in the market for a new phone as of its release, I'd probably just get a Galaxy Nexus like I already have. You get the same updates (unless you're on Sprint/Verizon, then you'll need to get a ROM) and the form factor is so much prettier.

I can't help but notice that the back is labeled "with Google" which implies that it's NOT a Nexus, but just another "Google Experience" phone. My Galaxy Nexus just says "Google" (without the "with") so I'm not sure that this will be the Nexus version. This may just all be a decoy Optimus G to keep us occupied while they keep working on the real Nexus.